Hay-press.



G. H. RUGGIQES.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

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G. H. RUGGLES. HAY PRESS; jrrmomlon rmm APR. 2a, 1908.

Patnted Dec. 22, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

CHARLES H. RUGGLES, HOPE, ARKANSAS.

HAY-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application filed April 23, 1908. Serial No. 428,787.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. RUGeLEs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hope in the county of Hempstead and State of Arkansas, have invented a new and useful Hay-Press, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to hay presses and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement of its parts as hereinafter shown and described.

The object of the invention is to provide a sweep actuated mechanism for o crating a reciprocating plunger in a press 0 the character indicated. a

With this obj ectin view the press consists primarily of a vertically disposed shaft to which the sweep is attached. The plunger bar which is arranged to reciprocate with relation to the said shaft is provided at its ends with an elongated guide which receives the said shaft and is adapted to bear against the .side of the same for directing the movement of the said bar so that the movement of the lunger is maintained in fixed alinement. he said guide is so mounted as to engage the side of the shaft and move in the direction in which the said shaft is turning so that the friction at the oint of contact between the uide and the s aft is reduced to a minimum.

hat is to say, as the guide moves in one direction it comes in'contact with one side of the shaft and when it moves in the opposite direction it comes in contact with the opposite side of the said shaft. A cross arm is fixed to the shaft and is provided at its end with rollers the peripheries of which project beyond the opposite sides of the said cross arm. That is to say, one roller projects beyond one side of the said arm while the other roller projects beyond the opposite side thereof.

A pitman bar is pivotally connected with the plunger bar and is provided at its free end with a concavity adapted to receive the rollers of the cross arm and adjacent to the said concavity is located a convexity which is adapted to engage the side of the cross arm for the urpose of expelling or pushing the said rol er from the said concavity during certain stages of the operation of the device. A lever is fulcrumed upon the sills of the press and is pivotally connected at its working end with a laterally disposed eye Ilocated upon the pitman bar in the vicinity of its ivotalconnection with the plunger bar. lhe

power end of said lever is provided with a concavity which is also adapted to receive at times the rollers of the cross bar.

The concavities of the itman bar and the lever are so located wit relation to each other that when the plunger is at the end of its stroke in the baling chamber the said concavlties are directly opposite each other and the roller which is located in the concavity of the pitman bar is delivered from the same dlrectly into the concavity of the lever. The lever and the said itman bar are also of such relative lengths t at as one roller whichis carried by the cross arm passes out of the concavity of the lever the roller at the opposite end of the said cross arm simultaneously is inserted intothe concavity of the pitman bar, consequently one or the other of the ends of the cross arm is at all times in positive contact in either the pitman bar or the said lever and thus the swee is continuously under tension and the whi e-tree attached thereto and to which the draft animal is connected is revented from whipping or interfering wit the movement of the animal. The cross arm is in engagement with the pitman bar during the compression stroke of the plunger while the cross arm is in engagement with power end of the lever during the retraction of the plunger. The pitman bar lies transversely across the working end of the said lever and reciprocates as the said lever swings. The lever forms a uide and support for the free end of said pitman bar.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the press with the parts in side elevation. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the mechanism for actuating the plunger. said-mechanism showing the plunger bar ad vanced. Fig. 4 is a plan view of said mechanism showing the plunger bar retracted. Fig. 5 is a plan view of the plunger bar guide illustrating the same in contact with the actuating shaft as the bar advances, and Fig. 6 is a plan view of the plunger bar guide, illustrating the same in contact with the actuating shaft as the bar retracts.

The press consists of the balin chamber 1 which is mounted upon the si ls 1. The s ring actuated dogs 2 are located in the sldes of the said chamber and are adapted to retreat as the plunger 3 advances and they project into the said chamber when the said plunger retreats and prevent the rearward movement of the hay after the same has been Fig. 3 is a plan view of compressed and moved longitudinally along the said chamber by the compression stroke of the said plunger. The plunger 3 is provided at its upper side with a series of spring tongues 4 which are spaced apart at their ends located toward the delivery end of the baling chamber 1. The said spring tongues 4 traverse the length of the inlet 5 to the baling chamber 1 as the said plunger 3 reciprocates and they form means for doubling the hay under so that the plunger will not wedge the same against the edge of the inlet 5. The plunger bar 6 is connected with the plunger 3 and lies between the sills 1 of the framework of the press. The spider 7 is mounted upon the sills 1 at the opposite ends thereof from the baling chamber 1. The said spider is of tripod formation with two of its legs resting upon one of the said sills and its other leg resting on the other sill. The bolster 8 is attached at its ends to the sills 1 and lies under the middle of the spider 7. The pillow bearing 9 is mounted upon the bolster 8. The lower end of the sweep shaft 10 is j ourgreater than the diameter of theshaft 7 so that the opposite sides of the said guide cannot have contact at the same time with opposite points of the shaft 7.

The operation of the mechanism for actuating the plunger bar 6 is as follows: Through the instrumentality of an animal or its equivalent attached to the sweep 12 the shaft 7 is rotated which carries around the arm 13 in the direction in which the rollers 24 project beyond the sides of the said arm. As one of the rollers 24 passes out of the concavity 23 in the lever 19 the other roller 24 enters the concavity 16 in the pitman bar 14. Thus as the arm 13 rotates with the shaft 7 and the roller 24 is in contact with the surface of the concavity 16 the pitman bar 14 is moved longitudinally and the lunger bar is moved longitudinally toward the baling chamber 1. At the same time the rod 22 which pivotally connects the eye 18 with the work end of the lever 19 swings the said lever upon its fulcrum so that its power end is swung over the plunger bar 6. When the naled for rotation in the pillow bearing 9 and l arm 13 has moved the pitman bar 14 until the upper portion of the said shaft is jourthe said bar and the said arm are substannaled for rotation in a bearing 11 provided in l the spider 7.

The sweep 12 is fixed to the upper end of with means for attachment with the whiffletree or similar draft means. The cross arm 13 is fixed to the shaft 10 and is located be low the intermediate portion of the spider 7. The extremities of the legs of the said spider are vertically disposed and rest upon the sills 1 as above described. The pitman bar 14 is pivotally connected with the plunger bar 6 at the point 15. Said pitman bar is provided at its opposite end with a concavity 16 at the outer end of which is located a convexity 17. The laterally disposed eye 18 is attached to the side of the pitman bar 14 in the vicinity of the pivoted end thereof.

The lever 19 is fulcrumed under one of the legs of the spider 7. Said lever is provided with a relatively long working end 20 and a relatively short power end 21. The working end of the said lever is pivotally connected by means of a rod 22 with the eye 18. The power end 21 of the said lever is provided with a concavity 23. The rollers 24 are journaled for free rotation at the opposite ends of the cross arm 13 and one of the rollers 24 projects at its side beyond the side of dimension of the said guide 25 is slightly l tially in alinement with each other the concavities 16 and 23 in the bar and lever are directly opposite each other, consequently as the shaft 10 and is provided at its free end the arm 13 continues in its movement the convexity 17 engages the side thereof and forces the roller 24 out of the concavity and delivers the same into the concavity 23 of the lever 19. Thus, the end of the arm 13 is transferred from pitman bar 14 to the working end of the lever 19 and as the said arm 13 continues in its movement said lever 19 is swung upon its fulcrum in the opposite direction and through the rod 22 connected with the eye 18 said pitman bar 14 is retracted in its movement which draws the plunger bar 6 toward the shaft 7. When the roller 24 moves to a point in its path where it is about to escape from the concavity 23 in the end of the lever 19 the roller 24 at the opposite end of the arm 13 is about to enter the concavity 16 at the end of the pitman bar 14 when the operation as above described is repeated. During the reciprocation of the plunger bar 6 there is some side draft upon the same due to the fact that the rod 22 connects with the laterally disposed eye mounted upon the sides of the plunger bar 14. This side draft has a tendency to bring the opposite side of the guide 25 alternately in contact with the opposite sides of the shaft 7 but as the side of the guide 24 is always moving in the same direction in which the said shaft is turning the friction due to the contact between the said parts is reduced to a minimum.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: Y

1. In mechanism of the class described, a

vertically disposed shaft, a cross arm carried by said shaft, a reciprocatory plunger bar having at its rear end an elongated recess through which the shaft extends, a pitman connected to the plunger bar and having at its rear end a pocket into which the opposite ends of the cross arm successively enter to effect forward movement of the plunger bar, and a retracting lever having one end operatively connected to the pitman, the opposite end of said retracting lever having a pocket which is positioned opposite the pocket of the pitman as the latter completes its stroke whereby the cross arm may pass from the pocket of the pitman directly into the pocket of the retracting lever.

2. In apparatus of the class described, a vertically disposed shaft, a cross arm carried thereby, a reciprocatory plunger bar having at one end an elongated recess through which the shaft extends, a itman connected to the plunger bar and having at its rear end a pocket for the reception of the ends of the cross arm, and a retracting lever connected to the pitman, one end of said retracting lever having a pocket arranged to face the pocket of the pitman when the latter reaches the end of its stroke, the pocket of the retracting lever being so disposed that as one end of the cross arm disengages therefrom the opposite end of said cross arm will enter the pocket of the pitman thereby insuring constant stress on the cross arm.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES H. RUGGLES. Witnesses:

M. H. BURTON, TOM H. BAYLESS. 

